red eyed mutts
by truces
Summary: Written for Caesar's Palace Color Prompts, "Red". Helix Querison of District 3 remembers her time in the games as she battled red-eyed mutts. Please review!


Red eyes. That's what the mutts had.

"_Helix! Run!" Byte shouted out. I looked back and shot an arrow in the direction of the mutts. Then I ran towards my district partner and pushed one of the evil bear mutts off him._

_I pulled him free and we ran again, my arrows bouncing in my quiver._

"_Run!" I yell at him. He's going too slowly. I have to make him go faster._

"_I can't run any faster, I'm not as fast as you, Helix," he gasps._

_A mutt snaps at my heel and I whirl around, stabbing an arrow into its chest. It falls over but it's not dead._

_But while I stopped, a mutt leapt onto Byte, ripping his head off. Evil bear mutts. Those words course through my mind, repeating over and over. Evil bear mutts, with red eyes._

_Evil bear mutts with red eyes; evil bear mutts with red eyes; evil bear mutts…_

_Byte's cannon fires and I sob. I was friends with him. I know I have to keep running; otherwise I'll have the same fate as Byte._

_I'm probably the fastest runner in these games, although these evil creations are nearly as fast, and probably have more stamina than I do._

_Again, I spin and take a mutt's life—If you can call it that—with my bow. I know I'm wasting arrows but I have to keep going._

_Eventually I fall into a cycle. Run, run, whenever a mutt gets too close, shoot, run, run…_

_And always keep thinking: Evil bear mutts with red eyes; evil bear mutts with red eyes; evil…_

_I've managed to shoot all the mutts but I feel in my quiver. 3 arrows left. I curse my mindlessness and keep walking. I'm in the mountain part of this horrible arena and I hear two more cannons._

_Five people were left, the boy from 1, the girl from 2, Byte, the girl from 7, and surprisingly, the boy from 12 and me._

_Nobody was in an alliance as far as I know except for me and Byte and the Careers, but I'm guessing they've split up by now._

_Night falls, and the Capitol anthem plays. The boy from 1 shows up first, and I'm surprised. He was the strongest Career, but I guess someone outsmarted him. Then Byte… I hold down a sob. Someone could hear me. Then the boy from 12. I guess the boy from 1 and him had a fight and they both died. I guess it's down to me, the girl from 7, and the girl from 2._

_I'm not surprised about the girl from 7, she seemed like a survivor and she got a 9 in training but the girl from 2, Quintilla, seemed like a total airhead. I guess she was fooling us all._

_The next morning, I get out of my cave that I slept in and I start when I see a shadow in the doorway. I must have made too much noise, because Quintilla walks in casually._

"_Hey there, Helix. How's it going? I'm sure you must she wetting your pants right now. Because _I'm going to kill you." _She leaps at me, slicing with her sword. I manage to block it with my bow and pray that the bow will still work._

_I fire at her and she blocks it with a circular shield._

"_You know, I killed the girl from 7 earlier. I decided to let her bleed to death," Quintilla drawls. A cannon fires._

"_There she is. Now I just have to kill you, and win!" She says cheerily._

_I snarl at her and say, "You won't be killing me."_

"_Oh, really?" She leaps at me._

_I step out of the way. "Yes, really." I smirk. I fire again at her and this time it hits her in the side. She hisses and plunges her sword into my thigh._

_I go to reload but realize there's only one arrow left. A red-fletched arrow. Like the Capitol's cruel joke on me. I know I have to make this last arrow count._

_I nock the arrow to the string and pretend that I'm going to fire towards her head. She puts her shield up there and I quickly aim it towards her heart. I release it and her horrified look tells me she realized too late that she knows what I did._

_The arrow buries in her heart and her cannon fires._

I am Helix Querison. I am the female mentor for District 3. And every night, I have flashbacks of the red-eyed mutts.


End file.
